Islanders women's tennis shuts out UTPA in home opener

Feb 07, 2011

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Texas A&M -
Corpus Christi women's tennis team picked up their first home win
of the season on their first try, shutting out the visiting Texas -
Pan American Lady Broncs b a 4-0 score at the Corpus Christi
Country Club on Sunday afternoon. It was the first home contest of the
year for the Islanders.

"Today was a very focused effort," said
Director of Tennis Steve Moore. "I thought we showed spirit and had
a good start in singles."

Texas A&M - Corpus Christi is now 2-1 on
the year, winning two-straight matches after dropping the season
opener to nationally-ranked Rice. UTPA is now 0-4 on the season after
the loss.

"This young team is growing up each week,"
said Moore. "I expect it to continue because they have good
character.

"We need to duplicate this and have a
consistent effort going forward."

The effort came in the form of being
relentless from the first point to the last. Doris Kuselj and
Bianca Discordia quickly won an 8-1 final at No. 2 doubles over
Wanda Bequelin and Suncica Strkic. At the No. 3 doubles position, LeAnne
Mascall and Nadia Filmalter defeated Dana Nazarova and Blanca
Garcia by an 8-3 final.
Although the doubles point was clinched for their team, Mirna Cicak
and Stefania Nicolae continued to fight, taking an 8-7 final over
Malin Andersen and Reeta Raty to give their team a clean sweep.

In singles, Kuselj picked up the first point
with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Andersen to make it 2-0 for the Islanders
over the Lady Broncs.
Sandra Burges put Texas A&M - Corpus Christi on the brink of
the win following her 6-1, 6-2 win over Strkic at the No. 5
position. Mia Matuszak
clinched the victory with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Garcia to finish the
dual match at 4-0.

In the unfinished matches, Cicak lost her
first set but was making a comeback when her match was stopped at
4-6, 4-1 in the No. 1 singles spot. Discordia was on her way to another
individual victory with scores of 6-1, 2-3 when the No. 3 singles
match went unfinished. The
final singles match had Nicolae winning the first set and ahead in
the second with scores of 7-5, 2-0 when the No. 4 singles match was
halted.

The dual match was stopped when one of the
teams reached the required four points for a team victory due to
weather in the area.

Next up for Texas A&M - Corpus Christi
will be a February 17 match on the road at Prairie View A&M.
The contest is scheduled
for a 2 p.m. start in Houston.